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Students and teachers released about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

ASB students prepare about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Students personalized many of them with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Valerie Vargas passes out balloons to students at Exeter High School on Wednesday, October 1, 2014.They released about 400 pinks balloons just after 1p.m. in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Teachers prepare to distribute about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Released just after 1 p.m., many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Students and teachers released about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Keira Lamb writes on a pink balloon before she and classmates at Exeter High School released about 400 on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Taylor Reeves, right, writes on a pink balloon before she and classmates at Exeter High School released about 400 on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Students and teachers released about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Sophomore Taylor Reeves, right, and classmates prepare to release about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School on Wednesday, October 1, 2014. Many of the balloons were personalized with messages for classmate Kyle Stutsman who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Students and teachers released about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Students and teachers released about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Principal Robert Mayo speaks to students and teachers just before the of release about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School on Wednesday, October 1, 2014. Many of them were personalized with messages for classmate Kyle Stutsman who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Students and teachers release about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Students and teachers release about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

Alex Cortez, left, and Jasmine Sullivan and other Exeter High School students watch about 400 pinks balloons released just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of the balloons were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

About 400 pinks balloons float away from Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, 2014. Students released the balloons, many of them personalized with messages, in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.
Ron Holman

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Sophomore Taylor Reeves, right, and classmates prepare to release about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School on Wednesday. Many of the balloons were personalized with messages for classmate Kyle Stutsman who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.(Photo: Ron Holman)

A diagnosis of bone cancer may have limited Kyle Stutsman's time at Exeter Union High School, but you never would have guessed it by the outpouring of emotion Wednesday at a memorial balloon release on the school's campus.

Kyle was only in and out of classes at Wilson Middle School and Exeter Union High School for a few years, but he made his time count, amassing a large number of friends, a nearly flawless academic record and a spot on Wilson Middle School's basketball team.

When his cancer took a turn for the worse at the beginning of this academic year, his classmates rallied. They wore pink, they shaved their heads into mohawks, they begged God for a miracle and they asked everyone they knew to do the same — using hash tags on social media like #teamkyle, #prayfork and #teamkyle30 (his jersey number).

On Wednesday — one week after his death — they were still doing much of the same.

Yes, there's grief, as many counselors who've worked on Exeter's campus can surely attest. But school officials, students and community members report that there's a sense of togetherness — a unity of purpose — that is driving everyone to keep fighting the fight against cancer.

This sense of purpose has manifested itself in a variety of ways, from the ubiquitous pink decor on campus and around Exeter, to the stream of donations for the American Cancer Society in Kyle's name.

The school set a fundraising goal of $10,000, which will be donated to Relay for Life under the banner of "Team Kyle."

The goal to raise funds began as a personal challenge from Kyle shortly before his death. In a plea similar to the popular ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Kyle asked that everyone shave their hair into a mohawk and dye it pink in a symbolic — and highly public — stand against cancer. He also hoped people would donate to Relay for Life.

First-year Principal Robert Mayo, as well as several other staff members at the school, have promised to take part in the pink mohawk challenge if the students reach the $10,000 goal.

By Wednesday the question wasn't if the silly haircuts would happen, but when. From pink buttons sold for a buck to individual gifts of up to $1,000, the school has brought in just shy of $5,000 in the last two weeks and the donations keep coming in.

Pink signs around campus that once read "Pray for Kyle," now urge athletes to "Play for Kyle." And it's not just Exeter athletes who are showing their support on the playing field.

Athletes from schools all over the county have given small tributes. Mt. Whitney football players wore pink crosses on their helmets Friday and their opponent, Mission Oak, wore pink wristbands. Similar gestures have been repeated at other schools.

"I've seen schools go through tragedies with students uniting with a sense of purpose, but not to the degree that it's happening here in Exeter," Mayo said. "We're under 1,000 students so every student was touched and took part in this process — that's amazing."

At the beginning of the week before Kyle passed away, students covered the campus in pink ribbons and messages of support. Hope was high.

"He was a great guy, everyone liked him," said Corbin Kehrberg, a friend of Kyle's. "They wanted to do everything they could to help the cause."

When Mayo learned of Kyle's death, he decided to call the student body to an impromptu assembly, where staff broke the news.

The goal of the transparency was to prevent rumors, praise the student's efforts, instruct them to give the family space, encourage them to continue the Team Kyle challenge and connect them to grief counselors, Mayo said.

The news was hard to swallow, but it strengthened the resolve to raise awareness and raise the money.

Students and teachers release about 400 pinks balloons at Exeter High School just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday in memory of classmate Kyle Stutsman. Many of them were personalized with messages for the boy who lost his fight with cancer last Wednesday.(Photo: Ron Holman)

"When he did go, that really shot up the enthusiasm," Kehrberg said.

Still, the empty chair in his many classrooms is difficult for many students to cope with.

Lamb exchanged text messages with Kyle after he left school for the last time in late August — mostly about homework assignments.

"Those last few messages — I never want to get rid of those," she said.

The balloon release was one of a few events this week at Exeter High — which is also celebrating homecoming — that will help to provide closure for the student body.

Jonathan Philpot, 18, shed a tear Wednesday, but was glad to have been a part of the ceremony.

"It's nice," he said. "I feel God's peace."

Off campus

Outside of school, speakers at Kyle's celebration of life service Tuesday said he'd be remembered as a smart, funny kid with a strong faith in Jesus Christ.

The 16-year-old had his quirks — among them the ability to solve an average Rubik's Cube in seconds and a love affair with his red Ford pickup truck.

He was a prankster. It was suggested that his quest to get everyone to dress in pink with mohawk haircuts was perhaps his last great joke on family and friends. There were dozens of such cuts in the audience of several hundred at the service.

He loved basketball — playing it and watching it — and he was thrilled by the opportunity to meet Kobe Bryant through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Kyle's motto throughout his treatment: "Pain is weakness leaving the body."

Kyle is survived by his parents, Ken and Teri, his siblings, Lane and Jake, and numerous extended family members. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be given to the Central California Make A Wish Foundation.